Rest Day 1: Kruger National Park 13th September

Early start leaving at 6.30 for an exciting trip which exceeded all our expectations!

We were looking out for The Big 5 (and managed 4!): Leopard, White Rhino, Water Buffalo, Elephant (no sightings of a lion). We took our trusty white van around the huge park (the size of Wales!). 

Steven from Hands was our guide for the day with plenty of local knowledge having been there over a hundred times himself. There was a max speed limit of 60KPH - so no speeding tickets today!

After a while we became quite ‘blazee’ about seeing Imparla - as they are most prevalent. We saw a wonderful array of brightly coloured exotic birds (large and small) with Spoonbills, Hornbills, Razorbills as well as Herons, and so many others - Dave would have been so excited! 

We also saw; Crocodiles, Hippos, Zebra, Wilderbeasts, Warthogs, Waterbuck, Kudo, Baboons, varieties of Monkeys, Tortoise, Mongoose, Snakes and Giraffes!

A feast for the eyes and so exciting to see them in their own environment as God meant them to be. Most corners we turned there was something: either in the road or close-by in waterholes and and the river.

It was a great but long day with looking up, down and sideways, hours of driving and lots of ‘Ohhhs and Aaargghs’ and Pink Floyd ‘Wish You Were Here’ on the stereo! We got back at 7pm and the ‘Hospitality  Team’ here had made us a welcomed Cottage Pie!

....and so to bed! Nite Nite!

Tuesday - What a day!

Today was a day of Experiences and emotions, we had joy and happiness with the children we are starting to understand and seeing unconditional love, with everyone involved. Thank you lord.

The ladies then had the holy home visits which were a totally different experience a grandmother who finds it difficult walking looking after a young boy with hiv and a bad eye infection very emotional for all of us. Thank you lord. The men have had some building experience and again tomorrow hopefully.

In the evening we had a gathering of local lads at our house and got to know about the football team they have, which keeps them occupied in Evenings and a shared interest in the local community. Most of them also go to church 😊.

We also discussed how the day affected us all and believe Msengeni care centre and care workers do a great work which we would love to be a part of.

Watch this space!!!

When the ladies went on their Holy Home Visit  we visited the home of Phindile, one of the Care Workers. She is facing all kinds of challenges as her husband has no work as there isn’t work      around here but they still have to pay school       fees for her children to be able to stay at school.She is trapped in a viscous circle and can’t see her way out of it. We prayed with her for her to   trust God again   for Hope, and we promised to

continue praying for her and also to ask you at  church  to pray for her situation. Quite a challenging, and humbling day.

Wednesday - Msengeni B - Faith

Morning!  Small groups to get the day started. Across Africa the Hands team, no matter where they are, join together every Wednesday and studythe same scripture. They break down this scripture throughout the year focusing on different aspects of it each week. We focused on “humility” and the scripture alligned reads:

Luke, 9:48

Jesus said ‘If someone accepts this child because of me, then he is accepting me also. And anyone who accepts me also accepts my Father God, who sent me. The person who makes himself the least important among you is really the greatest.’

We discussed humility at length between ourselves and what it truly means to be humble? The catch 22 of acknowledging oneself as humble, meaning you are not humble. As you read this blog,we emplore you to challenge yourself as we did on this point. An act completed by oneself, was that you? Or was that god working through you?

Shoka house, where we were staying, was guarded by the thickest of vines and thorns and needed trimming. Queue the machetes and elbow grease! Now we have a surplus of firewood and smores are sure to be consumed in the foreseeable future.

We visited Msengeni B, this was created on theback of the need of children in the area and managing that between both carepoint A and B. B was created in 2017 and is still a working progress however you wouldn’t have thought that basedon what we saw. From early morning we slotted into life at the carepoint alongside the careworkers by distinguishing with washing and the preparation of food. Cutting cabbage finely with a bluntknife was quite a skill, unfortunately Maggie and Claire found out the hard way! Flintstone tactics via sharpening the knife on a rock helped, a little. 

Whilst the food was being prepared, some of the team went to visit the home of one of the careworkers, Zodwa & her husband ,Boy, and their and children, Ncebo, Nnceda and Vusi (oldest to youngest). Unfortunately the children were born with severe disabilities, yet Zodwa and Boy continue to work and serve the community whilst pressing through their own hardships. Zodwa talked to us through her faith in god and that she is grateful to Hands coming to her at the time they did, as the carepoint does so much for her and the kids. It was something we noticed as well as they were solemn at home, but once we walked to the carepoint they were singing and dancing! Thetransformation is astonishing and the work done here was showing us time and time again that it’s incredibly needed.

Before each meal the children sing songs and say their prayers together before washing their hands and lining up to receive food. On the menu today was samp and beans with cabbage, carrot and onions. Stella and Wesley helped sort through the peanuts and ground them down with a pestle and mortar which was added to the pap in the samp. Delicious. 

Until tomorrow!

Monday 9 th September

An early start for the men this morning. -  7 am 

Prayer meeting in the little chapel  up the hill

In the Hands Village. 

After loading the van we set off to Swaziland 

With Tommy, Morgan, Finn and our 2 Hands 

Volunteers Melody and Vosie who are staying 

With us in Swaziland. 

The journey, with a stop at the border took 

Around 5 hours. (Oops that included a short 

Enforced stop for speeding. A few sorries and 

The nice police lady let us go free!!  

We got to the care point and the response from

The kids was quite overwhelming. They ran to us 

For hugs and were keen to know our names 

And laughed at us as we tried to say their’s!  Then ensued some football and circle games with all

Of the children. What a privilege it was to play

With them. 

We are now in our lodgings for the next 3 nights.We’ve tried out our head torches ready for the 

Outside loo and pray we don’t have to scare off any snakes tonight!

The

Friday 6th September

Woke up to find that it had rained             overnight and feeling much fresher. It’s the first rain they have had in 4 months. More  i s needed, but not yet!!!

The other main news, which I’m sure you    have all heard, is the death of Robert        Mugabe which has dominated the news     channels all day. I heard it on SABC TV at  breakfast, just as Silvia, who looks after me, came in with my fruit salad and yoghurt.

Silvia is a pleasant young woman with 2     children aged 10 and 8, although she        doesn’t look old enough! She comes from  Zimbabwe, so I asked her if she had heard  the news of Magabe’s death? She stood    and looked at the screen for several minutes taking the news in.

She then turned to me and said, “He was a bad man, a bad man. All the trouble in       Zimbabwe is because of him”. 

Silvia then told me that she was orphaned  as a child and brought up by her father ‘s  family. She said, “a white woman from the Catholic Church educated me, I did my      A Levels because of the help of the white  woman from the church”. She continued. “We need white people, they give us work.  He didn’t help us, he just helped himself”.

She is pleased to be in Sth Africa so her    children can get an education. 

I learnt from the news coverage that         Robert Mugabe was the son of a carpenter and trained to be a teacher. He was           described as the Father of Democracy in   what was Rhodesia, leading the country to  Independence. Most of the African Leaders who have paid tribute to him have revered him and what he did. 

Some of you may remember the Cricketer, Henry Ologona who came to speak at        Vauxhall Farm some years ago. He said       “Robert Mugabe would be remembered as a Dictator and Tyrant”. 

One one hand he was a Liberator and on    the other, a Dictator. It depends on which   side of the Scales of Justice you sit. Both   residents and staff at the Care Home had  plenty to say about Mugabe’s death. Many were cross that he would get a state          funeral; saying that the country would shut down while the event takes place. 

One resident blamed Mugabe’s wife Grace. “At first he had good policies and was        helping the country, it was his wife that led him the wrong way”.

Other news which has been in the headlines all week is the protest against Violence to Women and Foreign Nationals.  President  Cyril Ramaphosa gave a address to the      nation on TV last night in response. 

He said he was appalled at the way woman and foreign nationals are attacked

“It is more than a National Crisis. It is a      Crime against Humanity”.

He appealed to everyone to “respect women and to teach our boys to respect girls”.  He said they would be reviewing Laws on   Domestic and Gender based violence,        saying “Rapists would receive a Life           Sentence.

Ramaphosa called on all Religious Communities to “humble ourselves, to pray and bring healing to our nation. The nation is             crumbling under Femicide”.

Strong words

Thursday 5th September

Fiona drove us out of Johannesburg into    the country today, heading northwest to    Cradle Valley.

She told us she often cycles along this       route The roads are quiet and they have a wide sidewalk. There are few footpaths anywhere, you often see black people walking along  the  side of the road and on the      central      reservation. 

The drive took us past shanty townships   with their boxlike homes with corrugated    roofs. Washing hanging out to dry on the  metal fences. Black people sitting around,  rubbish everywhere.

The contrast between these shantytowns   and the large houses in the gated              communities is vast.

As we drive out of the city we pass small    farmsteads, a chicken farm, equine centres and smaller black communities. Fiona         pointed out an old wreck of a car which    was home to an elderly black woman. 

We stopped to look at a flock of Helmeted Guineafowl pecking for food in the dry      grass. We spotted 2 Impalas (a small         antelope) scavenging for food on the side of the road, oblivious to the passing traffic.

The straight road began to climb up hill and the views became more spectacular with   open countryside and mountains on the     horizon. This is the first day we’ve had        cloudy skies and they gave a haze over the hills. We drove on for about 30 mins then  arrived at Maropeng, a UNESCO World      Heritage site.

It is an underground museum, ‘The Cradle of Humankind’; telling the story of how we have evolved! The African’s believe that the  first man was discovered in Africa about.   100 years ago. The museum held many fossil and bone artefacts. It was very interesting and well done but they couldn’t explain who created the 4 elements: Earth, Wind, Air and Water.   www.thecradleofhumankind.net/pages/maropeng

There is also, an amazing Bronze life size   sculpture; statues of men and women who have taken Africa’s ‘The Long Walk to Freedom’ with Mandela at the front. It spans     about 250 years, there are about 100        statues, all in a walking pose facing the      same way, looking forward. It is very          poignant and in a beautiful setting with      open country as a back drop. 

100 years ago. The museum held many      fossil and bone artefacts. It was very interesting and well done but they couldn’t         explain   who created the 4 elements: Earth, Wind, Air and Water.   www.thecradleofhumankind.net/pages/maropeng

Sunday 1st September

unday 1st September 

Maggie and I received a very warm welcome at Gracepoint Methodist church in the Glenferness district of Johannesburg this morning www.gracepoint.co.za 

We were both overwhelmed with the size of the building, the main worship area had seats for about 900 and they have 3 services on a Sunday! We went to the 10am Service which was almost full, with families, young people and older folk like us.  It is a thriving community of Christ Followers.

The theme of the service was ‘Selfless - Living Beyond Greed’ Luke 12 v 15 - 21. Does our accumulation of ‘stuff’ make us live ‘foolish lives’. How can we live well? 

A challenging service in our consumer dominated lives.

After lunch Maggie’s friends took us to the Monte Casino Bird Gardens, where we saw some wonderful exotic birds. The flying display was quite spectacular. 

  

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